Quotes of the day

posted at 9:21 pm on May 30, 2013 by Allahpundit

Attorney General Eric Holder should resign for his role in the James Rosen case. He signed off on a search warrant to Rosen, a Fox News Reporter. This warrant treated Rosen as a common criminal. It sets a terrible precedent. Holder should resign to erase this precedent…

The reason the Espionage Act does not apply to Rosen is that it does not apply to those who publish (or broadcast) information leaked to them. In the Pentagon Papers case, the government asserted initially the Espionage Act did apply to The New York Times, the paper that published parts of the Vietnam Archives leaked to it by Daniel Ellsberg…

The government has now put itself in the position of setting standards for what reporters can and cannot do when they talk to those who have access to classified information. If a reporter steps over the line drawn by the Justice Department, he or she may become a criminal. In short, the government has criminalized the newsgathering process.

***

The boycotting news outlets said that the DOJ’s insistence that the media groups not report on the content of the discussions violated their journalistic guidelines or was a conflict of interest.

“They don’t help us inform the public,” McClatchy Washington Bureau Chief James Asher told Poynter about off-the-record meetings. “This one seems designed mostly to make a public relations point and not a substantive one. If the government wants to justify its pursuit of journalists, they ought to do it in public.”…

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Thursday that the administration was “hopeful that media organizations will take advantage of the opportunity to constructively contribute to this process.”

That said, everyone should just decline the opportunity to have this secret chat with Eric Holder about the Justice Department’s bespoke approach to the “freedom of the press.” Unless, of course, one of the attendees plans on going and then tossing the “off the record” rule in the garbage, which in my estimation would be an okay thing to do. Media organizations that conflate “journalistic ethics” with “bullshit political niceties” are conspirators in their own demise. So, you know, go right ahead and burn Eric Holder as a “source.” What’s he going to do? Petulantly deny you “access.” Feh, who cares?…

This is not a matter about which the press needs to have a “dialogue.” This isn’t a situation that calls for an “opportunity” to have a “frank exchange.” To suggest these things, as the aforementioned officials have done, is to imply that somehow the Obama administration and the media have just sort of mutually wandered off course somehow. A relationship went south. Everyone’s off on the wrong foot, and we just need to clear the air. Let’s all sit down and rap about it, and maybe everyone can meet in the middle.

With this “let’s get all the stakeholders in a room together to have an encounter session” environment having been set in advance, the media outlets that participate will be essentially saying, “We’re partially responsible for fixing this situation.” That’s not something they should be admitting. There’s no compelling reason for the media to give ground here. Rather, what media outlets should do is simply demand that DOJ officials either transparently provide a rationale for the actions they took, or transparently explain how they will alter their behavior going forward. If the DOJ refuses to do either, then the media outlets involved will simply have to accept that this is the “new normal,” and adapt to it.

But it should all be done out in the open.

***

As Michael A. Walsh notes in the New York Post, Holder is directly involved in essentially every aspect of President Obama’s second-term scandalpalooza. Not only did he sign off on the search warrant for Fox News’s James Rosen’s personal emails, he is at the center of questions over the state’s broad surveillance of the AP, an operation that has raised hackles across the political spectrum regarding First Amendment issues and civil-liberties concerns. (Holder did himself no favors by recusing himself from the AP case in vague and uncertain terms). Walsh notes that “even the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative and Tea Party groups for special scrutiny—[finds its] nexus at the top of the Justice Department.”…

[Janet] Reno was the one cabinet member who stayed for the entire run of the Clinton administration. She did the ugly jobs on behalf of the president, and took the political heat for them.

Now Holder is doing the same for the Obama White House—and perhaps no one understands the essential role of the attorney general better than our current president. In 2007, then-senator Obama told Larry King that he voted against confirming Albert Gonzales as attorney general because Gonzo “seemed to conceive his role as being the president’s attorney instead of being the people’s attorney.”

Upon taking over the Oval Office, Obama quickly rethought many long-held beliefs, including his views on executive power. It’s no wonder he now has a “president’s attorney” of his own, and every reason to retain his scandal-plagued counsel.

***

Holder has one particular, highly developed skill: a talent for loyalty. And this is designed to please an audience of one. But Obama’s continued trust in his besieged attorney general has radiating effects. The review of Justice Department abuses relating to the press is being conducted by . . . Holder. A special counsel in this case would be appointed by . . . Holder. The FBI probe of the IRS scandal was ordered by . . . Holder. In all these cases, the restoration of public trust depends on an attorney general worthy of public trust.

During his recent Naval Academy commencement address, Obama said: “It’s no secret that in recent decades many Americans have lost confidence in many of the institutions that help shape our society and our democracy. But I suggest to you today that institutions do not fail in a vacuum. Institutions are made up of people, individuals. And we’ve seen how the actions of a few can undermine the integrity of those institutions.”

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One might simply argue that since the majority of journalists are no longer without blatant political bias in all they write or say, they’ve brought this on themselves.

It is a valid question to ask if constitutional protection belongs to all journalists. Unfortunately, the answer is yes, but a full fledged agenda to use the media to take down the very constitution that protects them needs to be considered other than news information. The weight of the marketplace doesn’t work, simply because the news marketplace is often owned by those with intent to deceive and they gave the ability to take the losses for their agenda.

Perhaps if our politicians had the courage to call them out each and every time–put the lying media types on the hot seat–but then, I dream.

holder is still a putz and who will get away with crapola because dear leader ain’t letting him go…

cmsinaz on May 31, 2013 at 6:29 AM

Happy Friday cmsinaz!

ABC was about the only legitimate news outlet that signed up for the off-the-record confab. Even though they assured us that they would push Holder for getting what was said go public, I can’t help but think they look a little foolish this morning after pretty much everybody else told Holder where to stick it.

Not that I’m surprised, ABC News is pretty much the most propagandistic of the big four. They can’t say the name of the rat-eared coward without gushing.

Even Rush says Obama can’t be impeached. Why? This is the most corrupt government in our lifetime in our hemisphere. Does The Constitution not apply to black presidents?

smoothsailing on May 31, 2013 at 3:34 AM

Rush doesn’t say the rat-eared coward can’t be impeached. He says that he won’t be impeached and he won’t.

There is no way that the left, which was so proud of themselves for electing “the black one” allow the first minority President get impeached no matter how much he deserves jail time for all his crimes. He could kill a puppy during the State of the Union speech and he would be defended to the hilt that the puppy deserved it.

I think it much more productive to take out the criminals around the President starting with high officials in the IRS and DoJ.

I agree and disagree with this point. Nixon and Bubba both had their share of supporters. Nixon resigned because he knew the Senate Republicans would vote to affirm the impeachment. Bubba didn’t because he knew the Senate Dems had enough votes to keep him in office.

Both situations a little off point when it comes to the rat-eared coward. The filthy bastard is pretty much a cult figure. It doesn’t matter so much what happens in Congress since there are plenty of LIVs who would literally start race riots akin to those in 1968 if anybody dares remove a black president from office. The rat-eared coward knows it. So, it is time to treat the bastard and his party like the Minute Men took on the Redcoats. No lining up on the field of battle and marching at the enemy. Hide behind the stone walls and start taking out thse criminals one-by-one. I think Holder is the easiest one to take out right now because there really is no defense for the nation’s top officer of the court to have told the lies and done the things he has done.

oh no, the gop are going to run a negative campaign in 2014…they are going to overreach there…don’t do it
-morning joe

cmsinaz on May 31, 2013 at 7:11 AM

Yeah, I’m sure the RNC watches Morning Joe for campaign strategy.

But I see what the left is going to do for 2014. Any criticism of the administration and they will scream that the GOP is going negative. In short, the Republicans will be expected to run Harry Potter style…… against the administration that shall not be named.

It’s really covering the Dems really big fear. They are going have to run in 2014 with a corrupt Dem administration, Obamacare kicking in, gun-grabbing fresh in the electorate’s mind, and a ideology that has absolutely morphed into something unrecognizable to most Americans.

Happy Nomad, I still don’t understand why. The administration is coming apart like a cheap suit. Spying on US citizens. Wire-tapping journalists. Investigating journalist like they’re criminals because they’re investigating the wrong doing of this crook.

They used the most powerful bureaucracy in our government to unfairly give an edge to one political side while using the same (IRS) to subdue conservatives by withholding nonprofit status. The intrusion into the personal lives of those being evaluated through their interviews and evaluations is the same as spying in my book because it gave them insights to the groups and their motives and tactics. Tell me that information wasn’t passed along to the DNC. The IRS chief visits the White House multiple times a week to have meetings for what? They’re on the verge of literally putting the same people in charge of evaluating our health care policies.

Fast and Furious. Benghazi.

We can impeach him. Americans have fought harder battles than this and won. If we don’t have the will to do this, we’re lost as a nation.

Bill Clinton was impeached on the basis of pejury. Yet, to the minute that vote was taken, the left was screaming that “it was just sex. None of Americans’ business.” To this day the LIV thinks that the GOP over-reached when they tried to take Bubba out for screwing an intern.

In short, facts really don’t matter as much as the perception of facts. That is why I think the IRS scandal has the most legs even though both Benghazi and the DoJ are guilty of far more clear crimes. Why? Because the LIV may not understand the legalities or even where Libya is on a map but they do know about the IRS.

To be honest, there is one I’d marry in a heartbeat if I could be with her. She’s happily married, tho, to a good-looking successful man who loves her. I’ve been crazy lunatic batsh*t insane nuts in love with her since we were 14. She’s so pretty, Helen of Troy would be jealous.

We can impeach him. Americans have fought harder battles than this and won. If we don’t have the will to do this, we’re lost as a nation.

The man and everyone that works for him is a crook.

smoothsailing on May 31, 2013 at 7:32 AM

Two points.

As a nation we don’t have the will to remove the first black (openly mixed race actually) President. Call it collective white guilt or whatever but there is a racial aspect to this Presidency.

Secondly, as corrupt as this administration is, the rat-eared coward has been well protected by those around him. Few of the many crimes and lies can be laid directly on the filthy bastard himself (the lies about Benghazi and a YouTube video being a notable exception).

to the libs they’ll portray it as overreach, they are already talking ‘so called’ scandals, they are trying to blow off these issues hoping the low information voters will follow them…

cmsinaz on May 31, 2013 at 7:29 AM

And the LI voters will follow them for the rest of 2013.
Starting in 2014,when ACA really kicks in, there are going to be countless WTF moments where the LI folks will be increasing their “information” content.
With opened eyes and ears, they’ll begin to listen.

You have more confidence that the LIVs are capable of change than I am. Personally, I think they are mostly selfish single-issue voters who really don’t give a rodent’s behind about the well being of the nation so long as they believe that the rat-eared coward and his corrupt party are on “their” side when it comes to abortion, sodomy, or whatever.

As a nation we don’t have the will to remove the first black (openly mixed race actually) President. Call it collective white guilt or whatever but there is a racial aspect to this Presidency.

Happy Nomad on May 31, 2013 at 7:41 AM

Happy Nomad, if it were just your second point, I suppose I could swallow a tough pill like that. Number one though is different. Do we tell servicemen past and present their sacrifices for a mere document with our governing rules is a joke. Hey soldiers, why are you fighting. To defend our Constitution. Why, your government doesn’t follow it.

So for the short time I served, I supported a commander in chief who has brought more tyranny on my fellow citizens than any foreign power. Why can’t he be impeached?

You have more confidence that the LIVs are capable of change than I am. Personally, I think they are mostly selfish single-issue voters who really don’t give a rodent’s behind about the well being of the nation so long as they believe that the rat-eared coward and his corrupt party are on “their” side when it comes to abortion, sodomy, or whatever.

Happy Nomad on May 31, 2013 at 7:46 AM

I have a number of liberal friends. In all honesty, I consider them smart and up to date on political issues. They certainly like to get into political talk.
To a T, NONE of them understood how involved the IRS was in managing ACA. NONE !!.
I was stunned to learn this of them. When confronted with this reality, they all expressed considerable unease. They ALL had bought into the ” if you like your plan, you can keep it ” bs. To them ,ACA was for the “other” folks. And that their lives would go on as in the past.

I am telling ya, when this reality is fully understood, all hell will break loose.

I want to see The One leave office sometime between now and January 2017. Period.

And I want to see him leave it in disgrace. He deserves it as much as Carter and Nixon combined, as he combines all the worst points of both.

I would say this even if he were a (gasp!)white(!) Republican. Keep in mind, I had considerable admiration for Randy “Duke” Cunnignham, as a Naval Aviator, before I found out what a slimeball he was as a politician. (I still admire his backseater, Willie Driscoll.)

I respected Jimmy Carter at first for being a Naval officer, and a sub driver. I even was willing to give him a (partial) pass on not getting through the Nuclear Power Program to command a nuc boat; not every bubblehead was cut from Adm. Rickover’s cloth. But his performance (or rather, lack of same) as POTUS made me conclude that he was the Peter Principle made flesh.

When everyone laughed at Gerald Ford’s stumbles, I remembered that this was a man who, while checking deck tiedowns as a LtCmdr aboard the USS Monterey (CVL-26) during the December 1944 typhoon off Formosa, was nearly swept over the side. Only the deck-edge “lip” saved him, and he considered himself lucky. Anyone who can take that that calmly, I respect.

I find nothing admirable about The One. Nothing. At. All.

He has disgraced his office, but from all indications this is no more nor less than he has done to every office he has ever filled. He apparently simply cannot help himself. He seems consumed by a collection of unfocused hatreds, which boil down to him being mortally offended by the idea that everyone else isn’t exactly like him, and that everyone else isn’t worshiping him the way he worships himself.

Fine. Let him be offended. Just let him do it somewhere other than the White House. Then, he is no longer everyone else’s problem.

So for the short time I served, I supported a commander in chief who has brought more tyranny on my fellow citizens than any foreign power. Why can’t he be impeached?

smoothsailing on May 31, 2013 at 7:51 AM

Again, there isn’t the collective political will to take out the first black President. And it is all about racial politics. Too many of our fellow citizens were comparing the election of the rat-eared coward in 2008 to a turning point in civil rights, the election of Nelson Mandella, and the legacy of MLK. People were crying in the streets, school boards were rushing to be the first to name an elementary school after a man that hadn’t even taken office yet, he was given the Nobel Peace Prize for being black and not GWB.

2008 was much more about electing “the black one” as it was anything the rat-eared coward stood for. The press didn’t even vet him as they would have a white candidate. The results these past four and a half years have been disasterous but there simply isn’t the will to impeach the first black President.

And, BTW, I think that if I were to have recieved my certificate of discharge from the military under this administration I would be holding a ceremonial burning to cleanse my service from any taint of the corrupt military-hating Commander-in-Chief.

I came in under President Bush. I got out under Obama. Some days though, I feel like we’ve got to the point where I should consider it a waste of time. After Bush we weren’t fighting to win anything and it got to the point were our commanders were afraid to let us engage the bad guys. When I see the corruption of the men in this administration now, I just don’t know what to think.

To impeach him is the only way you could prove to me that America still believes what it asks its soldiers to do. Is the Constitution worth fighting for or not?

I am telling ya, when this reality is fully understood, all hell will break loose.

Jabberwock on May 31, 2013 at 7:58 AM

Ya know, I, along with a fairly large number of other Tea Partiers at a “Kill the Bill” protest, stood outside of a local congress critter’s office in the sleet and rain with signs that said ACA would include IRS involvement and enforcement. The left shipped in busloads of paid union protesters to counter us, (who “collectively” left after putting in their hour). We stayed.

But, the pundits and media said we were “crazy” and misinformed, no, wait. They said we were lying (and racist, or something). They taunted and mocked us. Turns out we were right (we read the bill), they were wrong (they believed Teh One). No one would listen to reason. It still infuriates me.

Thanks you for serving too Liam. There does come a point though where what we took as an oath becomes wasted on the wrong people. All enemies foreign and domestic. Just words unless we act. I’m running late but I ruck up and move out with my last word for this qotd, impeachment. We should learn all the facts and if this guy is as involved as people think, I do not see why we shouldn’t try to impeach him.

Scrumpy on May 30, 2013 at 11:57 PMThe commandment is “Love your neighbor as yourself,” not the reverse! Think about the significance of that…if you don’t look to God to get your own needs met first, you cannot help others as well, can you?

Anti-Control on May 31, 2013 at 12:03 AM

To A-C… Hmmmmm, nice point, I am struck to think that because I don’t ask for material things from God that I somehow don’t love myself enough to be able to love my neighbour? Jesus had nothing and neither did the Disciples, but what they did have was knowledge and a love of God that they shared, which I do… by being a loving kind and giving person, and by sharing His Word!

Don’t get general with our God. Be specific. Cry out : Daddy, I need this. My experience : God doesn’t like it when we get general. Its like we don’t totally trust Him or have belief in Him to do the impossible. Do you think it was easy for me to ask for a promotion and a mind-boggling 40% hike in sal? Even in a place like China (the fastest growing economy), they’d laugh and fire my sorry a**. But I got it quite easily today. I know my God, and I know that its His doing.

tommy71 on May 31, 2013 at 12:03 AM

To Tommy71… Another good point T! Hmmmmm, now I am thinking, do I trust God to fulfill my needs? Is that why I don’t ask for material things? There are people in this world with dire need, who could have even more need than I, I ask for them to be blessed with their needs. Actually you have posed me a question I have to dwell on and pray about. I may get back to you on this…

To A-C… Hmmmmm, nice point, I am struck to think that because I don’t ask for material things from God that I somehow don’t love myself enough to be able to love my neighbour? Jesus had nothing and neither did the Disciples, but what they did have was knowledge and a love of God that they shared, which I do… by being a loving kind and giving person, and by sharing His Word!

Scrumpy on May 31, 2013 at 10:25 AM

You do not believe that caring more about others’ needs than your own is healthy, do you?

Too many Christians believe/feel they are selfish if they put themselves first, and that is not good. You have physical needs, too – shouldn’t you expect God to meet them?

It’s good to ask God for whatever you want, realizing that if it’s good for you, He’ll give it to you, and if it’s not, He won’t…